On February 3, John gave baby Elizabeth her name and blessing in church.

My mom and dad came from Iowa, my older brother from Oregon, and my little brother and cousin from Provo. Elizabeth was a sweet angel and slept through the experience. The blessing John gave her was beautiful and full of many wonderful promises. I look forward to watching her grow in confidence and beauty all her life long.

That evening we visited my sister, where all three of my siblings were gathered.

Carissa found her cousins’ fairy wings and tea set and was pretty much in girly heaven. Just where she belongs.

This year marks our 11th Valentine’s Day together. Our first one was on separate continents, and John sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. Today we celebrated together with our three kids by going out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

We sat by the fireplace, which was cozy and could almost be considered romantic if we weren’t taking turns coloring on the kids menus with Wes and Carissa and cutting the kids’ food. Still, we enjoyed breakfast. The kids and I had chocolate milk.

Elizabeth slept the whole time, almost.

We got three and four of us in a photo by the fireplace to remember the morning.

I love Wes and Carissa in this photo.

Cracker Barrel has a country store in front that brought out a whole new side of Carissa: the shopaholic within.

She enjoyed playing with the little Easter rabbits that moved and danced, and touching virtually everything the store. In the end I had to pick her up and carry her out whilst mid-tantrum. In the parking lot I suggested she pick out a rock for her and Wes to take home. That calmed her down right quick and she was happy.

Later in the day I took Wes and Carissa to a chocolate store to get the one thing I really wanted: a slice of frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate. It’s pretty much heaven.

When we got home I discovered the other thing I really like about Valentine’s Day: my flowers. And this after our conversation in the car about how overpriced flowers are on V-day! Nonetheless, I won’t turn down fresh flowers with baby’s breath.

On Saturday we take Wes to BYU for Athletic Connection. He gets to hang out with other people with Down syndrome and BYU athletes. Well, this past Saturday the team cancelled and the group took us bowling instead.

I’ve taken Wes and Carissa bowling before, and Wes LOVES it. Last time Carissa was a little too young to appreciate it, but this time (at age 2 1/2) she was into it.

We shared the lane with two other siblings, Clark (who is a teenager with DS) and his little brother Josh. A handful of BYU students are always on hand to serve, and this girl helped my kids bowl. John and I mostly stood back and watched, making sure they didn’t run into the lane or try to grab a ball and start bowling when it wasn’t their turn.

Waiting to see where her ball ends up.

I have many blurry pictures of Wes and Carissa jumping up and down and shouting things like, “Alright!” and “Yay!” Carissa danced around a lot, while Wes did more shouting.

And the baby sister? Well, she watched and slept from her baby carrier strapped to my chest.

All in all, with bumper bowling the kids didn’t do too badly.

After we finished bowling John and I took the kids to the BYU bookstore. I got to browse and the kids read stories in the children’s reading area. The BYU bookstore is a magical, wonderful place to be.

This month:

1. Carissa got her first taste of cookie dough. Her first taste because she’s allergic to eggs so I’ve never given her a taste of any kind of batter or dough that has eggs in it. But she clearly wanted to taste whatever I was mixing, so I looked up a recipe for eggless chocolate chip cookies. Instead of eggs it calls for cream cheese. Other than that, it’s a pretty standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. Instead of butter I used coconut oil, which is a healthier fat option. And they turned out great! Soft and chewy. Carissa was a happy cookie-dough eater.

2. Carissa learned how to use scissors. And boy, is she good! It’s a milestone that makes me happy-sad. Happy because “scissor skills” (as the schools call it) is an important skill to have, especially as she enters school later. But sad because her older brother Wes has such a hard time with the scissors still, and he’s three years older. She picked up the skill so quickly, without me even realizing she was learning it. Wes likes to try to use scissors, so he’ll get it someday, but he needs a lot of help. This isn’t unexpected or anything, for a child with Down syndrome. It just blows me away sometimes how fast she can learn something when it takes Wes so much longer. He gets it in his own time, in his own way.

3. Carissa has started to ask questions. “Why, mom? But WHY?” It’s cute. So far. She also asks things like, “What is he doing?” It’s another notable milestone. Wes has never asked “Why?” but he does ask sometimes, “What is that sound?” He’s not big on questions.

4. There has been much kissing of the baby. Elizabeth is 2 months old. She’s smiling and getting bigger. She weighed in at 10 lbs at her 2-month checkup, with a healthy rate of growth. Wes likes to hold the baby’s hand like she’s waving at us and say, “Hi mommy!” He is very gentle with her and is good at replacing her binkie and saying sweet things like, “It’s OK, it’s OK.” Carissa likes to play with the baby’s toys. She lies next to her on the floor and basically thinks Elizabeth’s play things are her own.

In November, right before Elizabeth was born, Wes got to spend an hour with the BYU baseball team. He loved it, of course.

After Elizabeth was born, Carissa was eager to include her new baby sister in all her activities, like reading.

My mom and dad came to visit, and the kids had lots of quality time with Grandpa.

I tried to get a group shot of all three of my kids together. Tricky!

Wes and Carissa upside down.

One day I finally let the kids play in the snow. They loved tromping around the back yard.

In December we attended a Christmas party for families with kids with special needs. Both Wes and Carissa got to visit with Santa. I really thought Carissa would be too shy, but she was willing and hopped right up on his lap. And they both got suckers at the end.

One of Carissa’s outfits.

Wes and Carissa discovered another use for this old playpen.

Impromptu family photos.

And the latest news is that Elizabeth (who turned two months today) occasionally smiles. It doesn’t seem to be on purpose. They’re kind of spontaneous and not aimed at anyone. She only rarely looks at people’s faces, so she’s not very social yet, but I’ll take what I can get.